Here, only goats can prevent airport fires Last month, officials at San Francisco International Airport hired a herd of part-time employees to toil on the west side of the property and engage in an unusual — but environmentally friendly — form of fire prevention. Anyone looking down from a plane departing the airport may have wondered, What’s with the goats? For two weeks in June, Mr. Fuzzy, Cookie, Mable, Alice and nearly 400 other goats chomped on the brush in a remote corner of the ...

US officials approach tumult in Egypt with caution WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and his national security team tread delicately Thursday in the aftermath of the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, urging the restive nation to quickly return authority to a democratically elected civilian government and avoid violence. The administration still declined to take sides in the volatile developments as Egypt’s military installed an interim government leader. Ahead of Washington’s...

Gasoline prices begin summer slide NEW YORK (AP) — Gasoline prices are on a summer slide, giving U.S. drivers a break as they set out for the beach and other vacation spots for the Fourth of July. The national average for a gallon has fallen for 21 days straight and is now below $3.50 for the first time since February. The reason: Oil prices have been relatively stable, and refineries are turning out more gasoline after completing springtime maintenance. The drop may be interru...

GOP has tough choices on Voting Rights Act ATLANTA (AP) — When the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act last week, it handed Republicans tough questions with no easy answers over how, and where, to attract voters even GOP leaders say the party needs to stay nationally competitive. The decision caught Republicans between newfound state autonomy that conservatives covet and the law’s popularity among minority, young and poor voters who tend to align with Democrats. It’s those ...

Band of Brothers: 3 Texas siblings at West Point WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — There are brothers in arms and bands of brothers, and now there are Noah, Sumner and Cole Ogrydziak, three Texas brothers who began their cadet training together at West Point this week. For one of the few times in its long history, the U.S. Military Academy accepted three siblings into the same class. Twins Sumner and Cole, who just turned 18, and their 19-year-old brother, Noah, of Nederland in southeast Texas, have e...

What now? Q&A about latest snag in health care law WASHINGTON (AP) — Nothing’s ever easy with President Barack Obama’s health care law. The latest hitch gives employers an additional year before they must offer medical coverage to their workers or pay a fine. What does the delay mean for workers? And struggling businesses? And is it a significant setback for a law already beset by court challenges, repeal votes and a rush of deadlines for making health insurance available to nearly all America...

Letters from father of US Navy surface in SC CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — When John Paul Jones famously said “I have not yet begun to fight,” he certainly had begun to write as evidenced by letters from the American naval hero that recently surfaced at the Charleston Library Society. The library has 11 letters totaling 13 pages by the famous Revolutionary War captain many consider the father of the United States Navy. The letters were written in 1777, two years before Jones is credited with m...

Solar Plane: Making clean tech sexy, adventurous WASHINGTON (AP) — In noisy, energetic New York City, the pilots of a spindly plane that looks more toy than jet hope to grab attention in a surprising way: By being silent and consuming little energy. This revolutionary solar-powered plane is about to end a slow and symbolic journey across America by quietly buzzing the Statue of Liberty and landing in a city whose buildings often obscure the power-giving sun. The plane’s top speed of 45 mph i...

Vast war letter collection shows sacrifice ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Horace Evers was setting up a command post in Munich with other Allied soldiers in the final days of World War II when he stumbled across sheets of Adolf Hitler’s personal stationery in the dictator’s abandoned apartment. Evers, just barely 26, crossed out Hitler’s name below an embossed swastika, scrawled his own name — “S/Sgt. Evers” — and then sat down to write home about the stacks of hollow-eyed ...

2nd re-enactment of Battle of Gettysburg begins GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Battle of Gettysburg is underway for the second time in a week and tourists are converging in droves even if the outcome of the Civil War’s pivotal encounter has been known for 150 years. Soldiers back in 1863 never experienced conditions like the ones re-enactors had Thursday. Big city-like traffic snarled two-lane rural roads. Green grandstands used at the U.S. Open golf tournament last month outside Philadelphia l...

Who ‘dies’ is tough decision at Gettysburg GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — You’re a Civil War re-enactor carrying an authentic musket, out on the field with your history-buff buddies making a charge under withering enemy fire. It’s great fun except for one thing: Someone’s going to have to “die.” And lying motionless in the grass on a sultry July day in a historically accurate wool uniform while others are performing heroic deeds all around you does not always make for an exciting afternoon. Th...

Reports point to solid US hiring in June WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies stepped up hiring last month, a private survey showed Wednesday. And the government says fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week. The latest data point to steady job growth, an encouraging sign ahead of Friday’s government report on June employment. The brighter hiring outlook also helped stocks end the day higher. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 56 points. Further job gains could lo...

State winding down in George Zimmerman trial SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors are winding down their case in George Zimmerman’s murder trial after presenting forensics evidence and testimony aimed at refuting Zimmerman’s claim he was acting in self-defense when he fatally shot Trayvon Martin. It is still to be seen if they will call one or both of Martin’s parents to the witness stand to testify about whose voice is on 911 recordings of a fight between Zimmerman and Martin that preceded ...

Flood insurance changes run into resistance WASHINGTON (AP) — Just a year after Congress imposed significant changes in the government’s oft-criticized flood insurance program, howls of protest from homeowners facing higher premiums have coastal lawmakers pressing for delays that would preserve below-cost rates for hundreds of thousands of people in flood-risk areas. The government can’t say how many people could confront higher premiums, but homeowners in places like Staten Island, N.Y...

Industry panning Obama’s climate change push BOW, N.H. (AP) — President Barack Obama’s push to fight global warming has triggered condemnation from the coal industry across the industrial Midwest, where state and local economies depend on the health of an energy sector facing strict new pollution limits. But such concerns stretch even to New England, an environmentally focused region that long has felt the effects of drifting emissions from Rust Belt states. Just ask Gary Long, the presi...

Statue of Liberty reopens as US salutes July 4th NEW YORK (AP) — The Statue of Liberty reopened on the Fourth of July, eight months after Superstorm Sandy shuttered the national symbol of freedom, as Americans around the country celebrated with fireworks and parades and President Obama urged citizens to live up to the words of the Declaration of Independence. Hundreds lined up Thursday to be among the first to board boats destined for Lady Liberty, including New Yorker Heather Leykam and her...

Taco Bell customers get cash instead of food GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — That was no burrito. Three people who ordered food at a Taco Bell drive-thru in western Michigan got something more valuable: $3,600 in cash. A Taco Bell employee mistakenly passed the cash to the trio instead of their food Saturday. The money was returned a short time later. Kennidi Rue told WZZM-TV and MLive.com that she and two friends thought about keeping the money but decided they would feel guilty if they didn...

Investigators to examine why Ariz. blaze killed 19 PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — Fire crews battling a wildfire should identify escape routes and safe zones. They should pay close attention to the weather forecast. And they should post lookouts. Those are standards the government follows to protect firefighters, which were toughened after a wildfire tragedy in Colorado nearly two decades ago. On Tuesday, investigators from around the U.S. were arriving in Arizona to examine whether 19 highly trained ...

Drug overdose deaths spike among middle-aged women ATLANTA (AP) — Overdose deaths in the U.S. are rising fastest among middle-aged women, and their drug of choice is usually prescription painkillers, the government reported Tuesday. “Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are dying at rates that we have never seen before,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiled the data. The problem is one of the few health issues the CDC is working o...

What’s a little spying among friends? WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama had a simple answer to European outrage over new allegations that the U.S. spies on its allies: The Europeans do it too. Obama said Monday during his trip to Africa that every intelligence service in Europe, Asia and elsewhere does its best to understand the world better, and that goes beyond what they read in newspapers or watch on TV. It was an attempt to blunt European reaction to new revelations fro...